Superlatives about the world’s best beach get thrown around with regularity: I’m here to tell you they’re all wrong. Grace Bay Beach in the Turks and Caicos wins. This broad sweep of sand on Providenciales stretches for around 7 miles and resembles nothing more than talcum powder, both in color and softness. But I’m getting ahead of myself; we’ll get back to Grace Bay in a few days.
I’ve come to the TCI (as the Turks and Caicos Islands are known) for a week of scuba diving and sunseeking with my sister Janet, who hasn’t been diving since her certification over 20 years ago. Strung like bright white pearls along the edge of the Turks and Caicos Banks, the archipelago consists of 40 islands and cays, only eight of which are inhabited. From west to east you’ll find West Caicos, Providenciales, North Caicos, East Caicos, and finally South Caicos, where our trip begins.
Serenity Now
On a Thursday evening at dusk I check into the gorgeous new Salterra Resort on sleepy South Caicos, population roughly 1500. Opened in March 2025, this elegant, earthy resort features 100 oceanfront rooms and suites, multiple pools, a stunning spa, and the island’s only dive center, Adventures by Salterra.
On check-in I’m greeted with some hibiscus juice and bubbles (pro tip: combine them for an island-style mimosa) and our personal butler, Lawrence. During our three-night stay, Lawrence will prove invaluable at helping secure rides, spa times, extra bedding for the suite, and more.
After check-in, Lawrence walks me to my suite on the ground floor near the main building, and it’s easily the size of my house. There’s a plate of homemade desserts waiting for me on the dining room table, along with a stocked mini-bar, huge sand-colored sectional sofa, plush king bed, and a stone patio with a hammock that’s calling my name.
Unfortunately, though, Janet’s travels have hit a snag and, as it turns out, she is just at the start of an epic multi-day journey to get to South Caicos. I’ve still got diving on the docket for the next day, though, so after a delicious dinner at Regatta restaurant I call it an early night.
South Caicos Underwater
The next morning I head over to Adventures by Salterra to meet the affable couple running the center, Joey Plant and Anna Zuke. Not just a hub for diving, it’s the first “adventure department” operating under the Marriott flag, Anna tells me. “We curate boating and nature-based tours for all of Salterra’s guests,” she says.
In addition to diving, these adventures can include snorkel trips, airboat rides, bonefishing excursions, and land tours, but for now I can’t wait to splash in.
“On the lowest tide of the day, you can walk here from Provo … in two days”
So says my dive guide for the day, Edgar Pavo, as we get ready to jump in from the 36-foot Caicos Diver. Edgar is by all accounts the most experienced at the dive center, so I can’t wait to see what’s in store. We all suit up quickly, as most of the island’s 25 dive sites are just a short boat ride away.
Our first splash is at a popular spot called the Grotto, which sits right at the edge of a wall that plunges to over 7,000 feet (2,100 m). We level off around 60 feet and cruise east along the wall’s edge and, within just a few minutes, a squadron of five eagle rays passes by the dive group, then circles back for another look. I’ve rarely seen eagle rays so relaxed in the water and can’t believe our luck at the close interaction.
Up front, Edgar points out two beefy blacktip reef sharks, circling in the coral grotto for which the site is named. The eagle rays stop by one more time to say goodbye as we head back to the boat, poking in the coral heads and looking under ledges along the way.
After a surface interval, we next splash in at Spanish Chain, thusly named for an old length of chain, reportedly cut from a Spanish galleon hundreds of years ago in order to escape a hurricane. Aside from the chain, this site is known for the many table-sized stingrays that lounge on the sandy bottom, fully covered except for their eyes. We see at least five and they’re nonplussed by our appearance, not moving an inch as I float overhead.
The rest of my afternoon consists of a 90-minute massage at the spectacular spa, a nap on the hammock, and dinner offsite at the famous Triple J’s Grill, which pops up in a backyard only on the weekend, attracting a lively mix of locals and tourists for good music and huge platters of jerked chicken, beef, and pork. Janet has, by this point, made it to Provo, but with all the island-hopping flights full, she won’t get to South Caicos until the next day, so it’s another night on my own in our enormous suite.
My second day at Salterra starts much the same, except today I have a pounding sinus headache, so instead of diving, I’ll spend the morning peeping endemic rock iguanas on the uninhabited Long Key and snorkeling a few sites with Edgar and the guys. In the afternoon I join Anna for a visit to the South Caicos Coral Reef Consortium at the School for Field Studies.
Begun in 2023 in partnership with Salterra, the Consortium focuses on conservation and regeneration of the island’s reefs by first nurturing and then outplanting small pieces of 10–20 types of resilient coral onto local reefs. Hotel guests can request both topside tours of the facility and participate in a dive to check on the coral trees, placed underwater nearby and holding fragments almost ready for replanting.
Finally, Janet arrives and, after her well-deserved massage, we spend the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and catching up on her extended quest to get to Salterra. Her first night here is our final one, so we indulge in a 5-course prix fixe dinner at the luxurious Brine restaurant. The next morning it’s off to our second stop: charming Grand Turk.
Slow Your Roll
Despite being the seat of Turks and Caicos’ government and home to the islands’ only cruise ship port, thanks to the deep-water Columbus Passage, Grand Turk remains a sleepy, laid-back island, population roughly 5,600. The busy port sits on the far southern tip of the island, but overnight guests like us tend to cluster at several quaint guest houses and hotels that line Front and Duke Streets in the main settlement of Cockburn Town.
After checking in at the oceanfront Osprey Beach Hotel, which sits on Duke St. and offers those classic old-Caribbean vibes, Janet and I head directly across the street to check in at the dive shop. We’ll spend the next two days underwater with Grand Turk Diving Company, which, somewhat confusingly, shares a building with the island’s other dive shop, Blue Water Divers.
Once we sort out our gear and sign our waivers, we’re off to explore, wandering down Front Street past the many colonial buildings dating back to the mid-19th century. Despite the atmospheric surroundings, there’s not a lot going on, which is part of the charm of Grand Turk, so we head back to the beach before dinner at the hotel and an early pre-dive bedtime.
Grand Turk Underwater
Despite its sleepy topside status, Grand Turk is well-known among divers. More than 40 distinct sites sit primarily along the western shore of the island, perched right along the edge of a wall that plunges to 7,000 feet. With this renowned reputation, it’s no surprise that it’s a full boat today, with a mixed group of overnighters and cruise-ship visitors.
Our guide Lele is a one-man show, both captaining the boat and leading the dive, but I pull him aside and ask him to stay on Janet like a remora as it’s her first open-ocean dive ever. I needn’t have worried, though, as she backrolls like a champ off the small boat at McDonald’s, our first dive site, hits her deflator button, and starts to descend.
We adjust buoyancy and, following Lele, Janet heads straight for the coral arch for which the site is named. She goes through without incident as I follow close behind, watching her so closely that I almost miss the reef sharks swimming alongside the wall.
After a surface interval back at the shop, we head out for a second dive off Pillory Beach on the north of the island. We anchor in about 50 feet of water and again backroll into clear, blue waters, with vis of about 60 feet. We explore a few coral heads dotting the bottom as we make our way to the wall and level off at around 60 feet.
I’m all over poor Janet again, hovering nearby as she works on her buoyancy and clearing a foggy mask. Sharks join us again for this dive, as well as a friendly green sea turtle, who hardly moves from snacking on algae as eager divers approach with cameras in hand.
The next day unspools in much the same fashion, with two solid dives led by Lele. Our first stop is Alien Nation, another wall dive with dramatic, plunging topography and plentiful sea life. Janet is even more comfortable in the water today, and—am I imagining it?—seems to be trying to fin away from my ever-hovering presence on her flank. Again we see plenty of sharks, tons of reef fish, a curious puffer, and an aggravated triggerfish.
Because the site is so far north, we spend the surface interval lounging on the beach before splashing in at Finbar’s, with a wide, fringing reef that begins atop the wall in around 35 feet. Schools of grunts, goatfish, snapper, and flashing blue chromis make this one particularly colorful, and we’re both sad to surface, knowing it’s our last Grand Turk dive.
With our first-ever dives together complete, we celebrate with drinks—rum punch for me and a local “I Soon Reach” beer from Turks Head Brewery for her—at the Sandbar, a quintessential Caribbean beach bar sitting right on the sand, followed by dinner at the Turks Head Inne.
Topside Tour
“This is a one-way street for us, but the tourists drive both ways.”
Our guide for the afternoon, the dapper Robert Stevens Hall—that’s Mr. Hall to us—greets us thusly as he picks us up on (theoretically) one-way Duke St. in front of the hotel for an island tour. The 74-year-old former speaker of the house and current radio show host/tourism ambassador for his home island of Grand Turk has a near-encyclopaedic knowledge of its history.
His soothing voice is our companion for the next several hours as we drive the length of the 7-mile island, from the cruise ship port in the south to the still-functioning Grand Turk Lighthouse in the far north. We stop in at the seat of government, the House of Assembly, but my favorite part of the tour is the ubiquitous wild donkeys, a population of around 300 animals turned loose after the collapse of the salt industry in the 1960s.
Followed by a postcard-perfect Caribbean sunset and dinner at the Salt Raker Inn down the street from our hotel, we head back to the room to call it a night.
The trip so far has been a whirlwind and the theme continues, as we’re flying out the next morning for our final stop: the busy island of Providenciales.
Polished Paradise
“Provo is like a locomotive moving under its own steam.”
So said Mr. Hall during our Grand Turk tour, and he’s spot on. The main island of Providenciales, commonly called Provo, has a bustling population of roughly 30,000 people, and it’s been the hub of Turks and Caicos tourism for many years. The pace has only quickened since my last visit in 2009, with luxurious hotels lining Grace Bay, and visitors having their pick of gourmet restaurants, spas, art galleries, and beachy activities like windsurfing, tubing, and jet skiing.
For our part, Janet and I are off to the Ocean Club East, one of two Ocean Club resorts on Grace Bay, where we’re greeted with a tasty ginger beverage (spiked, of course). This condo-style hotel has 86 rooms in a variety of configurations; ours is a spacious, updated two-bedroom sitting right on the water with a full kitchen and serene screened porch.
Since we’re only in Provo for two nights, we take advantage of the topside day and head over to the Cabana Bar & Grill restaurant for some lunch before spending a relaxing afternoon lounging on that stunning beach. Dinner that evening turns out to be one of my favorite meals of the trip at the stylish, buzzing Marine Room (pro tip: order the lasagna), with a few deserts to go: key lime pie for breakfast sounds good to me.
Provo Underwater
“The only thing we throw overboard is ourselves.”
Dive Provo boat captain and dive guide Vasili offers the briefing the next morning, and his speech is littered with gems like this one. The day has, unfortunately, dawned stormy and windy, so Janet has elected to sleep in while I go diving.
The boat departs right on time from Caicos Marina for our dive sites at West Caicos, with 12 excited, if somewhat rain-drenched, divers gearing up as we go. The wind, unfortunately, has other plans, so halfway there we must change course and head instead for French Cay. Our first site of the day, Rock and Roll, lives up to its name as the boat rolls on the waves, but underwater all is serene as an eagle ray glides by and unbothered reef fish go about their business.
Our second dive for the day at a site called G-Spot—“I’m a male dive guide so sometimes I can’t find it,”—says Vasili, is much the same, with tough topside conditions belied by underwater calm. Though the conditions aren’t great, any day with an eagle ray sighting is a success in my book, and the other passengers agree.
I get home in time for a quick shower and, since the weather has cleared up, Janet and I wander down to the shopping area in Grace Bay to pick up a few souvenirs. Dinner on our last evening is at Opus Wine Bar & Grill, the on-site fine-dining restaurant at Ocean Club, and it’s as delicious as our previous night’s meal.
Relaxing with a few beers that evening on our covered patio, we’re already reminiscing about our trip before it’s even over. The wide sweep of Grace Bay stretches out just in front of us; there’s the quiet tinkle of laughter and conversation coming from the pool just to the right, and we’ve agreed that there’s no better beach—or destination—to make lasting vacation memories, either topside or underwater.
Where to Stay & Dive
Salterra on South Caicos offers true luxury and a stunning beach-front setting on quiet South Caicos. The on-site dive center, Adventures By Salterra, has all your dive needs covered, plus topside adventures like kayaking, deep-sea fishing, and paddling.
The charming Osprey Beach Hotel on Grand Turk sits right on Duke Street in historic Cockburn Town, an easy walk to several restaurants and beach bars. Grand Turk Diving Co. is right across the street.
The condo-style Ocean Club East makes a great base on bustling Grace Bay, with most rooms featuring full kitchens. Dive Provo will pick you up at the hotel for your day underwater.
Take a moment to look at this.
